Fatal Step
by ZebbieCullen
Summary: Joe gets hurt and Steph finally makes a decision about them. Includes cute flashback scene from childhood. Cupcake fic. One shot.


_A/N: I have exams coming up soon, so this may be the last Plum fic I post for a while. It's my first proper Cupcake fic! Everything belongs to JE and all mistakes are mine. Enjoy, and please review!_

I was six years old when I first really met Joseph Morelli. He was Joey then. I had known him my whole life, but only from a distance – across the fence. He was eight and invited me into his garage to play Choo-Choo. He was the train and I was the tunnel. I had protested, saying that I wanted to be the train, but he told me I didn't have the right equipment. I wasn't allowed to see him again after that.

_Flashback_

_I tied the bike that I had gotten for my eighth birthday two weeks ago up in the garage and shut the door. My Dad was at work and my mother was visiting Grandma Mazur. Grandpa Mazur had recently gone to Heaven, so she was moving in with us. None of us were best pleased. Dad kept muttering about the 'crazy old bat' and Mom thought she had enough on her hands with me, she didn't need to add her mother into the equation. Valerie and I were looking forward to seeing more of her, but I had to give up my bedroom and share with my sister, which I could have done without._

_Valerie was a few years older than I was, and was 'babysitting' me. I use the term loosely, as she wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to me. Instead, Mom and Dad were paying her to talk on the phone to her new boyfriend._

_Yuk! Who would want to date my sister? All she ever talked about was make-up and clothes – nothing of even remote interest._

"_Hey, Cupcake girl," I heard someone say._

_I knew who it was without even looking up. He was the only one who called me that. He was in the fourth grade now; I was still in the second grade. Every day at lunch my Mom gave me a cupcake, hence the nickname. It was the first time I'd seen him since we played Choo-Choo._

"_What do you want, Joey?" I asked, walking to the door._

_I could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke. "It's just Joe now."_

_I scoffed. "Go away,_ Joe_," I said, putting emphasis on the last word._

_I turned around and saw him standing with his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He was taller and his hair was slightly longer, but other than that, he hadn't changed much._

_He shrugged; I could see his chocolate brown eyes silently laughing at me. "It's a free sidewalk."_

_I sighed and repeated my earlier question. "What do you want?"_

_He took his hand out of his pocket and handed me an envelope. "I just stopped by to give you this. Sorry it's a bit late."_

_I hesitantly took it and turned it over. It read, 'Happy birthday, Cupcake girl' in his messy scrawl. Suddenly intrigued, I ripped the top off and tipped it upside down. A small, plastic ring fell into my hand. It had a blue plastic jewel in the centre that matched my eyes._

"_What's this?" I asked._

_He smiled at me. "A ring. And don't loose it. You'll need it someday."_

"_For what?"_

"_For when we get married," he said like it was obvious. Then he turned around and walked away, leaving me standing there._

_End Flashback  
_

At first I though the two of us had a lust/hate relationship. He was rude, big headed, obnoxious, he smoked, he drank and he was a womaniser. Always trying to get me to play Choo-Choo in elementary school. Always trying to get me to kiss him in middle school. In high school, he took my virginity behind the éclair case at the Tasty Pastry, where I worked. And I let him. I hated him, and I showed him just how much when I drove over his leg, breaking it, a few years later.

He graduated two years before I did and joined the Navy.

I dreamt about that night all the time. My first time. They say you never forget your first, but I don't think I could forget Joe Morelli if I tried. I was attracted to him. To the bad boy, bad ass image that he carried. He was the kind of boy mother's feared. But I didn't like him as a person.

I didn't hear anything about him or from him for years. Then, when I was thirty, my cousin Vinnie, who's a bail bondsman, gave me the task of bringing him in for ten thousand dollars. He was a vice cop turned FTA, wanted for murder. It didn't surprise me.

What did surprise me was that he had changed. Not only was he innocent, but he was drug free, alcohol free and had turned 'Burg. He wanted the traditional wife, dog and two point five kids. Stranger than that, was that he wanted them with _me_. Me, Stephanie Michelle Plum. Just your average blue eyed five foot seven brunette from Trenton. Joe Morelli could easily have any straight woman he wanted, but he chose me. He loved me.

He was able to look past all of my personal flaws and see the person inside of me. Who I really am. Sure, it annoyed him that being stalked by crazies, blowing up cars and rolling in garbage were all part of my daily routine, but hey, nobody is perfect. It also annoyed him that I spent so much time with Ranger, my mentor and part time boss, but it annoyed me when he had to work with Terry Gilman, the blonde haired, silicon bobbed mob princess, aka, his fuck buddy from high school.

True, he was slightly sexist, thinking that being a bounty hunter was too dangerous of a job for a woman to handle, but I knew he only said that because he cared and wanted me safe. I didn't like the fact that he had such a dangerous job either, which was why I was sitting in the waiting room in St Francis hospital, where he and I were both born.

I ran a hand down my face and anxiously looked at my watch, willing the minute hand to go faster. But if anything the second hand went just slower.

Joe had been investigating a homicide on Stark Street and a junkie had jumped out at him – recognising him from a bust – and taking him by surprise. Joe had been stabbed in the ribs and fell, splitting his head open on the sidewalk. I got the call a few hours ago that he'd been hurt and had been sitting here ever since.

Joe and I had been _on again_ for several months now. Things were really looking up for us. He agreed to stop pressuring me about my job if I got proper training and carried my gun with me at all times. Which I did, courtesy of RangeMan and I ended up working there part time as a result, turns out the Merry Men are actually quite talkative when you get to know them. Only problem is that now I can't get Lester to shut up. Joe wasn't too happy when I first told him, but when I reminded him that I would be safe there, he eased up a bit.

I looked up at the sound of footsteps getting louder. A nurse that looked vaguely familiar walked towards me. I guessed she was one of the many nurses that had treated my various injuries.

"Ms Plum?" she asked me.

I nodded, anxious for news. She smiled reassuringly at me. "Mr Morelli is going to be just fine."

I sighed with relief and relaxed slightly. "When can I see him?"

"Right now if you like. He'll have a bit of a headache for a while and he'll need to stay in bed for a few days, but other than that he's OK. He should wake up in the next hour or so."

True to her word, he did wake up an hour later. He was uncomfortable and in a bit of pain, but he was alive. "Hey, Cupcake," he said, grinning at me lazily.

I just smiled and brought his hand up to my mouth, giving him a gentle kiss. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm OK. Now that you're here," the drugs said, obviously talking for him. "What happened to the guy that stabbed me?"

"He was caught. Remember Lula's friend Jackie?" I asked, receiving a nod. "Well, she saw the whole thing, called an ambulance and gave a description of the guy if the cops promised not to arrest her for prostitution."

Joe looked confused. "Why did she do that?"

I smiled and shrugged. "She thinks you're hot."

And she was right. He wasn't know as Best Ass in Trenton for nothing. I kissed him lightly on the lips and stroked his hair gently. As per usual, it needed to be cut. I brushed my thumb softly over the stitches on his forehead. "Get some rest, Joe," I whispered. "I'm not going anywhere."

I watched him nod off back to sleep. I couldn't believe that with the childhood we'd had I'd actually grown to love him. With all my heart. Ranger had made it very clear that he was only interested in friendship and sex. It saddened me that we would never be anything more, but it also made my life easier. I would always love Ranger, but I knew that it was time to move on. As long as he stayed in my life, I could do that. It was one of the reasons I accepted the job at RangeMan.

Joe was discharged a few days later and told to stay in bed for about a week. I doubted he would, but I'm sure I could persuade him that rest was good. As soon as I opened the door we were greeted by Morelli's big orange eating machine, also know as Bob the dog.

"Wow there boy," I said, pulling him away from his owner before he could hurt him.

Joe patted Bob's head and sat down on the couch, a hand over his ribs. I'd been giving it a lot of thought lately –since Ranger told me that we'd never be more than friends, at least, not in the way I wanted to be. I couldn't do a casual relationship with someone I care so deeply about, knowing that it wouldn't mean the same to him – and the whole junkie attack thing had finally made me realise what Joe had been able to see all along.

I reached into my pocked and fingered the piece of plastic. How was I going to bring the topic up?

I pushed the nerves down and decided to just charge straight in. After all, I been kidnapped, shot at and nearly raped a couple of times. I could handle asking a guy one simple question. So what if it could change both of our lives forever? "Joe, you know I love you?"

He eyed me for a brief second. "Of course I do. And I love you too."

I decided that was as good an opportunity that I was likely to get. "Will you marry me?" I asked, my voice shaking slightly as I pulled out the ring from my pocket. It was the one he had given me for my eighth birthday all those years ago.

He just stared at me for what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a couple of seconds. His chocolate brown eyes were burning with affection, love and desire. Very slowly he shook his head. "No."

I felt like someone had sucker punch me and stabbed me in the heart. How could he say no after trying to get me to marry him for so long? Maybe he just liked me because I was a challenge. Someone to chase after when he got bored of Terry Gilman. Oh God, why didn't I listen to my mother when I was younger and just stayed away form him? Why did I have to go and fall in love with another man who didn't want me? Was there something wrong with me? I mean, there had to be. After all, Dickie cheated on me with my worst enemy, Ranger just wanted my body and now Joe didn't even want me.

I knew I should leave – every bone in my body was screaming at me to. But I had to ask. I couldn't walk out of his life without knowing. "Why not?"

A small smile appeared on his face as he took the plastic ring out of my hand. "Because it's the guy whose supposed to ask."

"Sexist," I automatically said, two fat tears leaking down my cheeks.

"Traditionalist," he corrected me. He got off of the couch and down on one knee in front of me, wincing slightly as he did. I saw him swallow hard. "Stephanie Michelle Plum, will you marry me?"

I couldn't believe he just said that. Joe hated most traditions. He was the one that said traditions were meant to be broken, just like rules. Of course he had to choose now of all times to change his mind.

I knelt down in front of him and took his face in my hands. "Yes," I whispered against his lips just before I kissed him.

_I'm sorry if Steph seemed a little out of character, but I rewrote this several times and this was the closest I could get. Let me know what you thought!_


End file.
